“Is there a way to create…something like an artificial heart?”  Lieutenant Ada Josephs asked.  She sat across the table from Baron Nine, and Commander Parks sat next to her.  They had been at it for six hours, working to understand what the Vorethi-bots had offered.  “Or an artificial intelligence that we can put together, program, and have ready to interface in,” she checked her watch, “18 hours.”

Baron Nine shifted awkwardly through the piles of PADDs.  “An artificial heart will not suffice.  It must come from a living humanoid who has had experience with the concepts of right and wrong.  They are determined to find their moral coding.  I am the only option available.”

Park groused, annoyed.  “What about just shoving a Vorethi in the damn thing – we could probably find a few Blood Guild members willing to join the bots.”

Baron shook his head as he put two PADDs on his section of the table in the science lab.  “I do not think the heart of a Blood Guild member will satisfy what they are seeking.  I believe it would make it much worse.”

Josephs chuckled darkly.  “If they even made it a step towards The Constructor.”  She scrolled through the various research articles she had flagged, working through each section and taking notes.  “Could we create a copy of his consciousness?  Figure out a way to modify their system to just…replicate his patterns into their buffers?  Baron stays Baron.”

Park slid her chair over to a console, tasking the computer with the scenario.  As she worked she said, “In theory, we could do it.  The science on it isn’t great.  They did something similar with Admiral Picard and an android…but I’d have to dig into what few declassified specs exist on the equipment, if at all.”  She added, “18 hours is a long time, but I’m not sure it’s enough to do something like that.  Sorry, Baron.”  

He replied with an understanding nod.  “We will just need to continue working.  Solutions take time, I’ve come to learn.”

“Nothing.”  Ada Josephs grumbled as she threw up her hands.  Another six hours had passed.  Every idea, concept, scenario, and possibility had been throwing complications.  Time was the biggest factor.  Equipment was another.  The talent and abilities of the staff were running a close third.  Baron’s face had slowly fallen from the hope that had started the work to a quiet resignation, staring at the lonely PADD in front of him.

His voice was quiet and reserved.  “Our time draws short.  I have looked into my Borg memories to see if there is anything left that we could use.  There are even limits to what my former masters could do.  Never imagined I’d hope that they could save me in the end.  I do not think we can prevent this from happening.”

Ada blew out a sigh of frustration. “You’re not fighting for yourself very hard, Baron.  Why?”

Baron’s thoughts seemed to overwhelm him, and he remained in thought, staring at the wall for several minutes.  Park and Josephs waited, watching.  His eyes refocused, and he turned to them both.  “They say the voices of the Collective never leave.  It is different for each ex-Borg, but I hear them in echoes.  In quiet moments where I’m alone with my own thoughts.  It’s like a murmur beneath my consciousness.  Do not worry; they don’t speak to me.  I have decided it is just them reminding me they are there.  That while I am free from their command, I am not free of their voice.”  He shifted in his seat, his features deepening into sadness.  “With this, I could finally be free.”

Park had been listening, holding her breath as his answers poured forth.  There was something missing in his explanation.  She asked, “Aren’t you afraid?”

Baron’s quiet smile faded, and he nodded slowly, his eyes growing misty in the lab light.  “I do not fear death.  I have been dead before.  I fear losing my expanding journey to becoming human.”  

Both women fell silent, unable or unwilling to attempt an answer.  Their words would have been empty.  Instead, they sat quietly with Baron as he stared at the table, the PADDs, and the science lab he had called home.  He turned to face them, extending his hands across the table.  Park reached out with her right hand, and Ada with her left.  They clasped hands, an unspoken moment passing between human and ex-Borg.